


a sign.

by ultjone



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: All to come, Alternate Universe - Dystopia, Alternate Universe - High School, Eating Disorders, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, Self-Harm, i am not, this is bad btw, this will be an outlet for my angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-05
Updated: 2018-03-05
Packaged: 2019-03-27 14:50:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 896
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13883148
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ultjone/pseuds/ultjone
Summary: they say people are born different.but why does it feel like we're all the same?





	a sign.

**Author's Note:**

> unbeta'd, i barely even proofread this, its short and its bad, my apologies. im just hopping on the dystopian au train that im sure everyones gonna be on soon!

“What could you possibly need now? You’ve been bugging me for the past hour, I’m bu-oh,” Changbin stopped himself, now seeing a different face in the doorway than he had expected.

 

“Jeesh, Binnie, rough day with Woojin?” Jisung asks with an eyebrow raise, shuffling over to his usual spot, a ratted old bean-bag chair adjacent to Changbin’s loveseat. He looks tired, bruised dark circles under his eyes contrasted with the stark white of his uniform. “I wanted to talk to you about someone. You know that new kid? The one with the hair?”

 

“With the hair, Jisung? That doesn’t really cut it down much,” Changbin teased him, though he knew exactly who he meant. They don't get new kids very often- and this one just so happened to catch his eye.

 

“Oh, come on Bins, you know who I mean. Freckles? Big eyes? Cute pouty lips and teeth that kinda stick ou-”   
  
“Yeah, yeah, ok, I know who you mean.” Changbin rolls his eyes dramatically, and Jisung sticks his tongue out at him, eyes round and lit by the flickering monitors around them. “You really want to recruit him? Nobody has been talking to him- he seems a little weird. We can’t just go around recruiting people that we barely know, Jij.”

 

“Changbin,” he scoffs in return, “when have we ever trusted the majority?”

 

-

 

Felix was having a  _ shit  _ day. In fact, he was having a shit week. If you asked him to describe how he was feeling (as the new ‘therapist’ he was being forced to see did later that day) he would have a single word that very aptly described how he felt: shit.

 

None of the social workers told him before he was placed here that everyone had unanimously decided that their hair needed to be black, or that everything would be so tech-advanced, or that he’d have to wear a white jumpsuit every day. 

 

And that was all a separate issue from the language barrier. When they said they were sending him to boarding school, he didn’t think it’d be on the other side of the world. Same concept: learn to become a useful citizen for the government, learn to think for others instead of just yourself, learn to fit the role you’ve been predetermined to have since birth.

 

Problem is, the customs were all different, and Felix had no idea what he was doing. He stumbled around the dormitories (his roommate was a nice boy, a year younger than him, named Seungmin- but he wasn’t around much), ate alone in the dining hall, and was already falling behind in his classes despite only being enrolled for under a week. It was hard to understand courses, however basic, when you could barely understand the language being spoken.

 

Occasionally, someone would approach him and ask if he spoke English, and if he was from that place on the other side of the world, the warm one with the weird accents. Each time he would nod, and they would ask if knew someone named Chris. He’d shake his head no, and receive a look of almost relief on their face before they left him to be alone, again. 

 

He had, however, spoken to a few people who seemed like they didn’t want to sprint away from him at first sight. After accidentally bumping into a boy and, in a panic, apologizing in English, he struck up conversation with a lanky, bright-eyed kid named Jisung who had lived in Columb for a bit as a child. His English wasn’t flawless, but Felix thought he might cry at the fleeting comfort. He learned that he and Jisung had almost the same birthday, and Jisung promised that they would hang out more.

 

Sometimes, Seungmin’s friend Jeongin would come around in the mornings, with breakfast to wake Seungmin up. He seemed quite shy, but as soon as he saw that Seungmin had a roommate, he started bringing Felix breakfast in the morning too. He was a happy kid, with sharp facial features juxtaposing his gentle, song-like voice. He seemed awfully skinny, and Felix had to wonder if anyone was taking care of Jeongin as well as he was taking care of a stranger. 

 

-

 

Hyunjin gasped in pain as the light hit his eyes, earning a wince in apology from Minho.

 

“Migraines again?”

 

Only receiving a nod from the teary-eyed boy in response, Minho mutters something along the lines of “I’m sorry, kid” and smiles softly when said kid just gruffs and shoves his face into Minho’s pillow. The pillow, however, is promptly thrown into the doorway as Minho’s roommate harshly shushes the boys. “Be quiet! He’s about to come on!”

 

“Would you shut up, Woojin? We weren’t even tal-”   
  
_ “Testing, testing.” _

 

The three boys quiet, crowded together on one bunk bed as the pixelated screen of their television lights up, flickering. 

 

_ “They say people are born different. _

 

_ But why does it feel like we’re all the same?” _

 

The voice is cold, but personal. Aggressive, yet caring, and comforting in a familial way though accented almost unnaturally. It sends shivers through the boys’ spines.

 

_ “Us, brainwashed into the same system. They expected perfection. _

 

_ So  _ **_how_ ** _ can we be different?” _

 

Unintelligible words- Hyunjin thinks they’re words, he can’t quite tell- _ if only he didn’t have this stupid migraine-  _ play briefly as the speaker pauses. 

 

_ “A sign, _

 

_ An omen, _

  
_ A  _ **_glitch_ ** _.” _


End file.
